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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes -Wednesday, October 03, 2007 Page 5 6. Information and Reports PROJECT FILE 0003 Review and discussion of design standards for the Twin Lakes area, to be adopted into the City Code. City Planner Thomas Paschke introduced DRAFT Design Principles for the Twin Lakes Master Plan & Redevelopment Area developed by staff and presented to the Planning Commission for their review and consideration. Mr. Paschke noted that these principles had been jointed drafted in 2002 by City staff and Urban design consultant Peter J. Musty of CharretteCenter.com Inc., Minneapolis, MN, and partially funded by the Metropolitan Council Livable Communities Demonstration Grant. The design principles contained checklists for basic goals, land use patterns, streets & public spaces, frontages, buildings, and the design review process. Mr. Paschke noted that, while these design guidelines or standards specific to Twin Lakes had been created, they had never been reviewed or acted on by the Planning Commission, or adopted into code through City Council approval. Mr. Paschke advised that staff had used the guidelines as they reviewed various projects; and it was the goal of Community Development staff, as the area developed or redeveloped, to take components of this document that could be extrapolated and turned into guidelines to create a whole new document, with the support of the Planning Commission and City Council, and adopted into code, or as a stand-alone policy to provide consistency in staff's review of land use applications in the area. Commissioner Boerigter opined that he wanted clarification of what was allowed under the current Comprehensive Plan and Master Plan in the Twin Lakes area; the framework for that to be done; whether "big box" is a component; specific uses; and whether the current Comprehensive Plan limited where things could be built due to maps and incorporations by staff and/or the City Attorney. Commissioner Boerigter further opined that this would dictate some of the design standards, rather than having them created in a vacuum. Mr. Paschke advised that it was the opinion of staff that the uses allowed in the Twin Lakes Redevelopment Area are not specific to a given location, based on how documents have been created to-date and recent court rulings, with the Comprehensive Plan and B-6 Zoning District spelling out specific uses; no prohibition on "big box" construction, identified as a permissible use in a service mixed retail area; based on language of the court rulings. Other permitted uses included high-tech medical; no limitations on square footage; regulations by the AUAR on types of use and their impacts to transportation, environment and infrastructure; status of the AUAR Update; function of the AUAR as an environmental document that looks at impacts, and the three (3) scenarios to be reviewed and a mix of uses that could potentially be developed in the Twin Lakes area, and whether those uses are consistent with the City's goals and whether the impacts of those uses need to be mitigated, but not limiting square footages. Mr. Paschke advised that staff was hoping to have the AUAR Update on the October 8, 2007 Council meeting for action. Commissioners Doherty and Gottfried, with Commission consensus, requested that a copy of the AUAR Update be provided to the Planning Commission when approved by the City Council. Mr. Paschke cautioned that there was not a correlation in creating design standards, and the AUAR document; however, Commissioners sought the AUAR document as a point of reference and context.